Maickel Melamed, 38, needed almost 17 hours to complete the 26.2-mile race. Officially, it took him 16 hours and 46 minutes. There were about 100 people on hand when he crossed the finish line around 1:30 in the morning.

Melamed, who had already run two other marathons, says he hopes he can be an inspiration to others:

My message is: If you dream it, make it happen. Your life is the most beautiful thing that could happen to you. Make the best with that, and share the best of that. We come here to share. We come here to make a team. We come here to construct the best world that the children — our children — deserve.”

More than 40,000 people began the race, with about 39,000 finishing it. You can watch Melamed talk about his experience below:

Welcome back to News Talk 940 AM

It appears that you already have an account created within our VIP network of sites on . To keep your points and personal information safe, we need to verify that it's really you. To activate your account, please confirm your password. When you have confirmed your password, you will be able to log in through Facebook on both sites.

*Please note that your points, prizes and activities will not be shared between programs within our VIP network.

Welcome back to News Talk 940 AM

It appears that you already have an account on this site associated with . To connect your existing account just click on the account activation button below. You will maintain your existing VIP profile. After you do this, you will be able to always log in to http://voiceofamarillo.com using your original account information.